a bleeding purple utah jazz blog

Game 23

My original game recap was going to be just one line tacked onto the end of the Jerry post: “P.S. The Jazz beat the Peskies/The Peskies decimated the Jazz as expected.”

However, I ended up having to create a separate post because the game was so incredibly, frustratingly horrible. A win is a win, I suppose, but there was no joy at the end of this one. It’s infinitely preferable to and less emotionally painful than a loss, but there was just no way to be unfrustrated about this win.

The Jazz played like zombies going through the motions. How about making an effort to win this milestone game for Jerry? Especially when the NBA refused to schedule this game in Utah and instead ensured that the milestone game would take place in Minnesota in front of an estimated 56 people? The Jazz couldn’t have seemed to care less about taking the game over and winning it, and AK (2-10; 3 TOs; got yanked) and DWill (2-11; 5 TOs; 3 BAs) were both chucking terrible. Had KLove hit his FT season average of 82% and made 7 for 9, Minnie would have won. Even 6-9 would have done the trick. Instead, KLove went 2-9 (not that the game can be summed up so simply) and the Jazz escaped with a win that no one can be happy about…

Except Jerry?! Despite all that, Jerry was “pleased”: “Our team has to develop more toughness to fight through stuff,” the typically tough-to-satisfy Sloan said, “and I thought they showed that tonight, which pleased me a great deal.”

As it turns out, it was all just luck anyway: “I spun, really didn’t know what I was gonna do with it,” Williams said of his assist to Okur [which turned into the game winner with 1.7 seconds left]. “I saw Memo last minute. (He) really made a great shot, big shot.”